When the riff kicks in, or just a kickin' solo, or the beat drops and your skin just starts tingling and you can't think of anything better.

I definitely have a few, but Arcade Fire's "Cars And Telephones" is one of my top ones. When the music slows down for a second at around 3:46 and then it's just "But fuck it I love you no less, I'm gonna feel like shit." That bit just nails it and until the end of the song it's just perfect.

Also Sigur Rós in Untitled 8 when the drums kick in at about 8 minutes and its just this amazingly powerful buildup.

Ah, yes, sorry.

2:09, the slow up rising of the volume starting as a whisper at the beginning of the song explodes into an epic instrumental. Great way to end off the album. This part specifically was in the commercial for Benjamin Button.

I can most accurately describe Death From Above 1979's genre as "Heavy Indie Alternative Progressive Punkcore Dance Funk Metal"

Some albums are just made of those moments. What springs to my mind immediately is Tubular Bells -- which is like an endless sequence of brilliant moments; some examples are just near the start, when the classic minor key introduction gradually and climactically resolves into a major chord with a "rising" organ chord, or the grandiose entry of the titular instrument at the end of the first part.

Jean Michel Jarre also has one of those in the beginning of side 2 of Equinoxe, which is those first few introductory bars. It sorts of hangs in suspension, with contained tension, before the melody finally breaks through. It's so beautiful it's almost cheesy.

OK I've been thinking about a bunch of tracks that have that special moment. There's loads but they're all great. There's a bit in Cipater by Autechre where the melody does some weird thing after having built up for ages. The track starts in 4/4, then somehow gradually merges to 3/4, then at 6.51 the melody just goes completely mind blowing...

Eye Flys by the Melvins starts with 4 minutes of feedback and noise- it's the first track on the album, a great intro- then it builds into an awesome riff, and it is impossible to not headbang to it. Great stuff.

The bit in Just Abandoned Myself by Boris where Wata screams is fantastic- about 5.36 - although that whole song is.

Then there's the bit in Tetra-Sync by Squarepusher just before the drum solo starts, the bass is excellent. Oh and the bit at 4.54 where everything falls together, such a great moment.

Then there's Leng Tch'e by Naked City- there the bit when Yamatsuka Eye starts screaming, and the bit where John Zorn's sax kicks in, those are two heavy, heavy moments.

Group Dancers by Charles Mingus builds to the best climax in all of music. There are too many perfect moments in that track to mention them all. 5.47 needs a mention though.

I love those moments that this thread is about. They are what makes music worth listening to.

Iron Maiden from Rime of the Ancient Mariner at the part "Then the spell starts to break/The albatross falls from his neck/Sinks down like lead into the Sea/Then down in falls comes the rain." right when Bruce screams "Rain" I just get shivers and goosebumps every time I hear the song, and that goes double when I saw them play it live.

Arthur Dent: "What's so unpleasant about being drunk?"Ford Prefect: "You ask a glass of water."

And while on the theme of classic rock, the entire medley at the end of Abbey Road (You Never Give Me Your Money through to The End/Her Majesty) is epic. A great end to one of the greatest albums of the 20th century.

In classical music, the top note bits of Allegri's Miserere is definitely one. Another is when Albinoni's adagio switches out of triplets and there's an a tutti of cdedcdB! In Karl Jensen's Armed Man: Benedictus, where the orchestra and choir kicks in.

In popular music, the Tea Party has one in Correspondences near the end "'Cause it tears me apart, you tear me apart!", the wandering minstrel guitar solo over the top of Brian May in Queen's Innuendo, and Cordrazine's Memorial Drive (in totum).

Ah yes, great moment, I love when the sopranos come in an octave above the rest of the melody. Beautiful piece of music though - as is all of The Armed Man. But the name is Karl Jenkins, though

Staying with classical music, all of Gorecki's Symphony of Sorrowful Songs was amazing. Without a doubt the most powerful piece of music I've ever heard live.

In terms of pop music... well, the thing is not so much that I don't have any but I just can't pick a few! The piano breakdown in Butterflies and Hurricanes by Muse is always spine-tingling for me. I like the end of Gravity by Embrace, when the drum and guitars kick back in again. I'll try and think of a few more good ones!

Rhubarb wrote:OK I've been thinking about a bunch of tracks that have that special moment. There's loads but they're all great. There's a bit in Cipater by Autechre where the melody does some weird thing after having built up for ages. The track starts in 4/4, then somehow gradually merges to 3/4, then at 6.51 the melody just goes completely mind blowing...

Cipater is amazingly brilliant. Chiastic Slide is not one of my favourite Autechre albums, because it always sounded uncohesive to me, but most of the tracks taken individually are brilliant. Regarding Autechre, one of my favourite moments is in Under BOAC, when the percussion break comes in, and gradually transforms into something WAY beyond a percussion break. The Gantz Graf EP also has a few, like the bit on the title track where the percussion attacks cease a little and leave way to a near-melody, that sounds almost plaintive and sad; AND the ending of Cap.IV. Oh, yeah.

Rhubarb wrote:Then there's the bit in Tetra-Sync by Squarepusher just before the drum solo starts, the bass is excellent. Oh and the bit at 4.54 where everything falls together, such a great moment.

Great one! That track is one of Tom Jenkinson's defining moments as a musician; another one is Iambic 9 Poetry, particularly when the song starts going haywire, then everything stops for a second, and then he goes into warp speed. I love Ultravisitor so very very much.

I like in Miles Davis' "In a Silent Way" when the drummer switches from the high-hat to the ride and it really comes together, be it in a subtle jazz kind of way, it still floors me almost every time.

Or pretty much any thing by Rage Against the Machine. Too many moments to list. There are few bands that equal the energy and urgency of Rage without sounding lame or pretentious.

Or, to go in another direction, the first time I heard the songwriting genius of John Prine on John Prine Live. There are very few songwriters in this world that can equal the emotion invoked by some of his best work.

The Rumpled Academic wrote:In "A Tender History of Rust" by Do Make Say Think, 1:31 in, when there's that little poolsplash of laughter, and the fingerpicked acoustic guitar riff comes in...

...completely goddamn joyous.

Holy shit, I have always thought this. I was going to post it until I read this.

I have a handfull I'd like to contribute.

-On "Talk on Indolence" by The Avett Brothers, the whole first minute or so of the song there is just rapid-fire vocals and bass playing, but a minute in it's just, "THREE FOUR" and the whole band kicks in. Awesome way to start an album if I do say so myself.

-Holland 1945 by Neutral Milk Hotel is one of my favorite songs of all time, and literally every time I listen to it, the lyric "This is the room where your brothers were born/indentions in the sheets/where their bodies once moved but don't move anymore", I get shivers down my spine.

-At 1:41 in the song "Am I Wasting My Time" by Eli "Paperboy" Reed and the True Loves, the piano and horns play the melody for the first time, and it's just beautiful. I dunno why; it's just fantastic.

-Probably my absolute favorite at the moment, towards the end of "Syke! Life is Awesome!" by Bomb the Music Industry (And coincidentally, the end of the the album, "To Leave or Die in Long Island"). It just goes all out ska, beautiful saxophones on the upbeats, and great lyrics that fit just perfect - "Then I was underground without food, sunlight, or encouragement/Depression set in ‘cause I was a product of my environment."

Phil Collins - In the Air Tonight. At around 3:40 the drums come in, and the bass punctuates it perfectly, and the lyrics step up and it just sends shivers down my spine. It doesn't last long enough. The whole song is awesome, but the section after the drums kick in is just amazing.

The guitar solo in Aerodynamic by Daft Punk.Most of Iris, by the Goo Goo Dolls. First heard it in a video at the end of a presentation by the Royal First Anglian Battalion, and it was so moving, because the actual video had dedications to people who died on their latest tour. This videoThe start of When You Gonna Learn, by Jamiroquai, just after the digeridoo, when the violins are going, and the Sax just blats its way in. Really groovy how it all fits together.Oh, and Digital Love, all of it, by Daft Punk. Even though it contains the fatal line "Why don't you play the game?", about 15 times.

Anything I said pre-2014 that you want to quote me on, just run it past me to check I still agree with myself.

post-rock is full of this shit, explosions in the sky does it, where the whole song will crescendo to a thing and then let loose.speaking of arcade fire i know everyone listens to funeral for a friend too much but in "wake up" when it gets to like 2:55 and he says "i guess we'll just have to ad-" in quarter note triplets and then "jaaaah" turns into the thing, you know. that sprang to mind.yndi haldar's "we flood empty lakes" (the album) has got some momentsfall of troy on their new EP "phantom on the horizon" at 5:54 in the last song "chapter V: the walls bled lust." man their music is so visual. two weezer songs off of the blue album, in buddy holly when everything stops save the guitar and more important when it comes back in, and when the drums start again after the long build thing in only in dreamsreel big fish does a cover of hotel california and there's a guitar solo and then midway through that the horns come back in with the melody but the guitar is still going it is so good. in a lot of ska, moments sort of happen when the drummer decides to half his time, like in catch 22's 1234, 1234 at like 3:10. halftime is a tricky thing to do without sounding really cheesy.when roger daltrey yells in 'won't get fooled again,' you knowthe chorus out of green day's Holiday. man i talk about such overplayed music, Holiday and Funeral and ska all in one post. my inner hipster is screaming. also i will stop this now lest i go on all day.

I removed everything apart from capital letters/abbv. and capitalised words. More in the future, please. I couldn't read a fucking thing, it hurt so much. That button marked 'Shift' isn't difficult to get to, you know.

Oh, Voodoo People (Pendulum remix) hit me like a sack of bricks when I first heard its bass. So did Blood Sugar, though that's sort of gimmicky

Anything I said pre-2014 that you want to quote me on, just run it past me to check I still agree with myself.

wst wrote:I removed everything apart from capital letters/abbv. and capitalised words. More in the future, please. I couldn't read a fucking thing, it hurt so much. That button marked 'Shift' isn't difficult to get to, you know.

You missed a "Holiday," and also i'm genuinely really sorry if i'm illegible to you. i went back and read that when i was done and it read ok to me.

I'd add Grace by Jeff Buckley. Near the end, he repeats "wait in the fire" and then just explodes in to this soaring wail. I still get torn up by that bit after yeaars.

Also Cicatriz ESP by the Mars Volta. Near the end after a bit of ambient quietness it just suddenly rages into this double guitarsolo with percussion going on. Frusciante + Rodrigues-Lopez making like Santana.

thecommabandit wrote:Phil Collins - In the Air Tonight. At around 3:40 the drums come in, and the bass punctuates it perfectly, and the lyrics step up and it just sends shivers down my spine. It doesn't last long enough. The whole song is awesome, but the section after the drums kick in is just amazing.

I remember reading so much about the moment of awesomeness of that song, but I was never able to connect the title to the song. When I finally got to hear it, my thought was "... ... wait, this is IT??"

So, talking about Sigur Rós and their third LP, there are a couple of brilliant moments in it aside from the finale. I'm thinking of the moments on the fifth track after the vocals end, and the abrupt, unexpected way the song picks up speed and steam. It comes from nowhere. And on the seventh track, when all instruments leave, except for Jón's voice and bowed guitar -- it hangs on air, motionless, for just a couple of seconds. It's like a hidden treasure, sort of -- a moment of fragility hidden in a solid block of stone. (also adding Sæglópur, and those moments when only the piano and the bowed guitar remains. Those chords they hit are so unexpected and tender, it's an absolutely gut-wrenching twist in the song. Takk... pretty much climaxes on THAT moment)

Also, Chemical Chords, by Stereolab. The intro of the title track is amazing, especially when the strings go into those rising motifs, and the rhythm stops with an elliptic major chord. Also, the tingly melody of Valley Hi!, or the dissonant haze of strings on Fractal Dream of a Thing and the way those strange chord changes finally resolve it.

a386 wrote:I'm totally going to check out Sigur Rós now. I'm not sure why i haven't before, I hear nothing but good things but I just never got around to tracking that particular band down.

You will not regret that decision at all.I'd start out with aegis byrnum and then go to (). If you like those I'd go with takk and their newest that i can never remember the name of. Even if i could remember it I don't think I could type it.

K. Perfect moment.

Bon Iver - Skinny Love.

When the chorus comes in for the first time, it's just a "wow" moment no matter how many times I hear it.

"I told you to be patient, I told you to be fine. I told you to be balanced, I told you to be kind."

I feel kind of silly for not posting about something deep and elitist like classical music or post-rock or whatever because I really should bother to listen to those but I haven't.

I really like the chorus of By the Way by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. don't care for the verses, but the last time the chorus is emphasized, with all the harmony, around 2:48... sometimes this song defines emotional buildup in music to me.Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger is I think my favorite Daft Punk song because of the climax around two minutes in.Moments like this happen sometimes when I'll have music on but not really be listening to it, and then my concentration will improve on the music for just a moment and I will be shattered by something amazing going on from what I didn't realize was anything. If it happens the first time I listen to a song, it may become a permanent reaction. Most recently, When They Came For Us by Shiny Toy Guns, but that's probably temporary.

This is pretty much what I'm trying to find when I listen to music, although there are secondary and tertiary reasons.

I'll probably post again but I've got a lot of these but I can only remember a few off the top of my head.

Tonite by Spiderbait. Right near the end when the guitar turns from soft and calm to distorted and the final part of the song. I just wish it went for longer.

Hey Joni by Sonic Youth. From about where Lee says "kick it!" but especially when he sings the chorus with the alternate/feedbacky sounds in the background and then yells "hey!" and it goes back into the chorus. That part is especially awesome.

Jesus Is Just Alright With Me by Doobie Brothers. Just when the organ finishes and the guitar riff comes back in. Nowhere near as powerful as the two before this but when I first really liked this song and it was one of my favourites it was a lot to handle.

Rock Bottom by UFO. In the guitar solo when the little jazzy background changes to the proper guitar during the guitar solo. Again, still not one of my favourite songs now but it was great at the time.

Ibi Dreams of Pavement (A Better Day) by Broken Social Scene. Just amazing when it first comes in, so powerful, this is just brilliant. Mind you the singer in his underwear in the video clip gets a little annoying but I suppose it does have meaning in relation to the song.